I am a teacher at an Eastside high school and teach refugee students who have had a diet of bamboo and need to find ways of growing familiar food. I have a grant to do gardening and would like to help families grow a nutritious and familiar food source.
Edible varieties of bamboo do grow in the Vancouver area, but this is one of the least nutritious vegetables. Just about any other oriental vegetable would be a better source of nutrition.
So what's your question? Are you wondering where to get edible bamboo? Most of the hardy bamboos are edible. You only harvest fresh shoots, and in a colder climate like the lower mainland you can only take 1/3 of the shoots off of a plant in one year. Of course it will take several years for a plant to get properly established. I planted several types of phyllostachys bamboo a few years ago and am still waiting to harvest a few shoots to eat. To harvest shoots you must select a shoot just appearing through the surface of the ground. Cover it with soil and allow it to increase in bulk without exposing it to light. If light reaches the shoot it will quickly change from white to green and rapidly become fibrous and woody; Basically inedible. Good luck
Take a look at Eric Toensmeier's book, Perennial Vegetables. It has the sort of information I think you'll be seeking, including tables that list the best (in the author's opinion) edible bamboos.
All phyllostachys are edible, though not all good...some are acrid without soaking, etc. Phyllostachys dulcis and phyllostachys rubromarginata are particularily good. Dulcis is probably best for your project, it grows fast, has sizeable shoots, and doesn't grow overly tall.
